A Little Less Lonely and Lot More Interestin'
by ravenblaque
Summary: When Cameron Saris has to leave home in order to stay alive she finds more than she was expecting in the Black, particularly with a certain man named Jayne. Sorry I stink with summaries! AU obviously! JayneXOC, MalXInara, ZoeXWash, KayleeXSimon
1. Chapter 1

Living on a ship was always exciting but never for the best reasons. There were times where it seemed like the fun was never going to end, that there was still more exciting things to be seen and done. Other days, it seemed like they were trapped in a steel box floating to Buddha knows where.

The others had it easy, Jayne thought with his feet propped up on his bed, Vera and gun cleaning items in hand. Mal and 'Nara both had the baby coming. Kaylee and the doctor. Hell, even Wash had Zoe and we all _know_ that was something no one ever saw coming. River, he pondered, wasn't quite _there _enough to know what she had missing but Jayne was sure that he had seen her glance at Kaylee and Simon holdin' on to one another and wish for a little of what they had.

"Hmm" A brief thought passed through Jayne's head. What if he could have that? Someone to make the black a little less cold and lot more interestin'.

"Nah" he murmured aloud to himself. Life was simpler without people tyin' you down. He had his family back home, which he loved but could be near for too long, and his people on this ship. That would have be enough. Wouldn't it?

* * *

Mal work up in that morning in a right foul mood. He laid in bed for a while, listening to Inara's soft breathing, and tried to figure out what had set him off but he couldn't quite place a finger on it. He knew it couldn't be the job, transporting a load of Paluvian apple rods wasn't terribly difficult but it paid the bills and it kept them safe.

He sighed, rolling over to catch gaze at Inara, her face peace in her sleep. Mal smiled to himself, this was the first night in a long time that she'd been able to sleep through the night without have to get up and throw up what ever nutrient specific food the doc' had given her.

Simon had explained that pregnancy on a ship wouldn't be easy. The body didn't like to confuse the idea of flying around in a tin can with guarding something so precious inside of itself. Turns out pregnant women fared way better on land than they ever did in space but Inara was stubborn. She stuck out her chin and told Mal and Simon that they could both be damned to _guay_ if they thought they could ship her off to some planet for the next 9 months.

So she stayed and Mal found better ways of taking care of his Mrs., this meant safer jobs with less pay but a hell of a lot less risk. Sometimes though, Mal imagined how long he could've lived the way he did before Miranda, before him and Inara finally admitting to what they felt. It wouldn't have been a long life but it wouldn't have been a happy one either. That much he knew.

That's why he was so bothered by the feeling in his gut that was preventing him from enjoying time in the bed with his woman. He'd learned a long time ago to trust his instincts, something his mother had instilled in him a long time ago on their ranch. So this feeling wasn't something that he ignored lightly, he'd felt it whenever they saw Precious or Niska, but he knew that he had to deal with them for the coin. Whatever was coming wasn't pretty, Mal knew that, but as long as his wife, his baby and his crew made it out fine, he'd be ok.

Wrapping his arms around Inara, he kissed her cheek gently. He'd do whatever he had to do to keep them safe.


	2. Chapter 2

"Come on, get up" Wash stood scowling, juggling his cup of tea in one hand and a bowl of protein in the other. Simon, however, remained draped across the kitchen table with his feet hanging none too gracefully off the side. A well placed boot against his backside finally caused the doctor to get up, stretching his back out with a muffled groan.

"I'm sorry, Kay and I found again last night"

"I know, we heard you two all the way down the hallway and over the engine" Simon replied between bites of food " The Mrs. And I were taking bets over who won and it looks like I'm out 5 coin"

Taking a proper seat at the table, Simon sat down and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "She says that she won't marry me - that it's too old fashioned for strapping young couples like ourselves"

"Hmph. Sounds like Zoe before we tied the knot""Really" Simon raised an eyebrow "You guys seem so solid"

"Oh we are but Zoe can be stubborn but eventually I won her over. That and I shaved my moustache, promising that it would never return"

"It shouldn't be this hard though. I just want to make her happy""No you don't" Zoe's voice came from the kitchen doorway. Walking over to get a cup of synth-coffee "You want to make yourself happy but you can't make a woman, especially Kaylee do anything' that she doesn't want to do. If she said no, she meant no" Simon hung his head, looking forlorn until she continued "However, my father always said no meant 'not right now'. So take a step back and let her adjust, Buddha knows that's what helped me with Wash. That and the fact that he got rid of that god-awful moustache"

"All for you my pet" Wash replied with a lopsided grin. Their conversation eventually faded to the back of Simon's mind as he focused on Zoe's words. A break just might be what they needed.

* * *

"Are you sure about this? Runs are very dangerous businesss" Kaylee's big brown eyes almost bored a hole into him. He almost faltered but he pulled himself away from her grasp.

"I need to pick up some supplies for the baby, this is the last chance I'll have to get them while we're still in this quadrant."

"Fine" she pouted, so Simon kissed her quickly and walked over to the mule that Jayne and Zoe were loading while Mal watched. Climbing aboard, he waved back at Kay as the engine roared to life and they pulled away from the cargo bay into the bustling crowd of the dock. Every planet was the same when you landed in enough ports. Loud, smelly, full of moment, Simon could practically time his watch to the yells of the dock men and fuel jockeys.

Their run today was simple enough, delivery of some Arielian mesosilk yarn, a high priced commodity in these parts. These legal jobs were still interesting for the crew, less funny but considerably more safe. They were still adjusting to the idea of not being on the run, Miranda had caused a wave of reforms to take place across the 'verse, a portion of which allowed Serenity and its crew to be cleared from any police attention. They still took precautions though, tried to remain under the radar, unless they sparked the attention of former enemies on the force. The mule jostled, bringing Simon out of his reverie and back to the task on hand, delivery then shopping.

'Focus on that and not her' he reminded himself

* * *

Cameron was angry. Angry, she had decided, was a much better emotion to have at this point. Instead of sadness or fear, anger was a way for her to maintain control rather than fall into an emotional wreck. Anger filled her, white hot, but she tried to keep it from her face in an effort to not draw attention to herself. The dock was crowded but that didn't mean that _he_ didn't know where she was. That's what made her so angry though. The fact that he was running her off. The fact that she didn't have the backbone to stay planetside. Then she would remember the reason why she needed to leave and how it was so much more important than herself. This would make her focus again on the task at hand - looking for place to stowaway.


	3. Chapter 3

Wash and Kaylee played a game of Go at the entrance of the ship. Between the laughs and the comments, they didn't notice the girl in the big, black combat boots and flowing skirts slip past them. Slowly at first, then with increasing speed, River made her way through the port with almost eerie precision. Like the others in the crowd, she looked like a person on a mission, with a specific goal in mind. It wasn't long until she stopped, slipping stealthily into an unassuming alley way. Crouching, she waited on her heels, pressing her hands to her chest. River wasn't often wrong, especially with the things she saw but this was one time she really wanted to be right.

* * *

Cameron's suitcase rattled dangerously as a passerby bumped into it. Grunting, she pulled it closer to herself, scanning the crowd for any unassuming dangers. Ships lifted off and landed nearby, creating an almost deafening noise that she instinctively wanted to shield herself from but she fought the feeling to put her fingers in her ears.

"Look out!" a messenger on a tri-bike, came zooming past, narrowly avoiding Cameron's form but completely knocking her suitcase from her hand.

"Ta ma de!" she cried out after seeing the suitcase roll wildly away from her body, spilling its contents on to the ground. Grabbing all of her things, she pulled the wreckage away from the middle of the street into an alleyway. It didn't take her long to realize that she wasn't alone in the alley. Staring at her while she hastily repacked her clothes into the suitcase was a young girl with a curtain of brown, wavy hair.

"Hi" the girl stated

"…Hello?"

"I can help you"

"What?"

The strange girl stood, her skirts billowing around her in a wave of motion " I said I could help you and if you don't come with me, then he _will_ find you"

Cameron's eyebrows raised in alarm, how could this girl possibly know what was going on? "What do you mean? He doesn't know where I am!" River didn't answer back with words, but instead pointed her finger out in the crowd. It didn't take Cameron long to make out the two imposing male figures making their way determinedly. In the instant it took for Cameron to figure out who they were, the men did the same and began to make their way towards her. Fear took a hold of her and left her body rooted to the spot, 'This is how it ends' she thought to herself, until small fingers gripped her by the wrist.

"Run!" The young girl's eyes were wide but her scream was enough to shock Cameron back into reality. The two broke off in sprint down the alleyway, running past cramped stalls and open doorways that lead into filthy buildings. Her bag rattled, protesting the speed that they were going but all too soon their path ended in a dead end.

"Wuh de tyen, ah! What are we going to do?" Cameron cried out but the girl didn't reply. Instead she pushed Cameron into the corner of the alley, where her back pressed up against the brick wall behind them.

"Stay here" Cameron couldn't help but watch, unable to move as the two men finally found them. She wanted to scream when they approached, each one taking up a side of the alleyway. It was only after one of them reached out to grab the girl, that she lashed out. Quick as lightning, she punched the man in the throat and then the kneecap, causing him to topple over while his partner approached her. This man went down just as quickly after the girl kicked his legs out from under him and then punched him hard enough to the face to knock him out completely. Finished she turned around slowly and faced Cameron

"We should get going now"


	4. Chapter 4

"So you mean to tell me that I, captain of my own gorram ship, can have no say in who is allowed on said ship" Malcolm's eyebrows rose incredulously. It didn't matter to Malcolm that the entire crew was watching him and Inara argue, that was common enough. Nor did the feelings of the stowaway,a young woman with a mass of curly brown hair whom hadn't moved from her spot in the kitchen since Malcolm had been brought into the room by his Mrs.. All that mattered was his anger, how dare any of them think that it was alright to keep someone on his ship without his permission.

"No I would never say that" Inara replied "I'm just saying that certain circumstances call for a certain amount of discretion -

"Discretion my ass, this is my ship and no one has the right to stowaway without my knowledge for an hour let alone three whole days."

"Mal, maybe you should just try to calm down" Kaylee tried to intercede

"How can I calm down Kay when there's been someone aboard this ship who could have caused all sorts of trouble for me and mine if I hadn't been informed by very pregnant wife who put herself into considerable amounts of danger to stow said person away on my own boat." Mal's whole face was contoreted in anger

"Please" Inara scoffed "I was never in any danger, River _told_ me she was fine" she pointed to the girl, who only seemed interested in twisting her hair in her fingers as she listened

Malcolm's mouth shut at that comment, they all knew that River worked on a different level, they'd accepted that fact and lot of other things after Miranda but it still wasn't enough to quash the fear inside of him.

"Can I say something?"

All heads turned to the young woman at the table. She didn't look up from her coffee but her voice was unwavering as she spoke "I was in that port three days ago looking a way off of that planet, River came my aid but it was Serenity that truly made the difference. I thank you for it, even though it wasn't on your own terms." She finally looked up from the mug, her brown eyes reflecting the lights in the room with a sincere set in her jaw "I'm not dangerous, I wouldn't know how to hurt any of you even if I tried...I'll give you what money I can, all I ask is that you drop me off at your next port of call."

Everyone's heads turned back to their captain, who spoke in that slow, clear voice that meant business

"Fine" He decided to ignore the wariness that was always in his gut and place trust into River's small but all to capable hands "But I need the truth before I can't let you stay. There's too much riding on this to not know why you were so eager to get off that rock"

Despite her brown skin, Cameron paled, she glanced around the room for the first time. All those eyes looking at her made her nervous but she spoke anyway. "I've got an ex...at first things seemed good with him but like some men he had a temper that got out of hand." She chanced at glance toward Inara, whose sympathetic look matched what River had explained to Cameron of the former Companion's life. "At first he would just yell but then the yelling turned into something more...physical. I knew I had to get off that planet if I wanted to get away from him. So I took my chance three days ago and left while he was out"

The silence in the room felt oppressive but Mal spoke with a calm an assertive tone.

"You'll pay what you can for fare, the rest can be worked off in trade. Since I've got a kitchen with no cook, I guess that can be you. If your not in here, then you're in the passenger quarters and no place else."

Cameron nodded her head quickly in agreement and immediately it felt like the tension in the room had broken. For the first time since she'd gotten off planet, Cameron finally felt as though she could breathe.

It wasn't long after that breath when River came up to her and whispering"Congratulations" into her ear gently and walked away from the room with a look of happiness on her face.

* * *

Cameron was grateful for a bed, so grateful that part of her would've agreed to a lot worse with the Captain just for the opportunity to lay in one. After three days of hiding out (which mostly meant sitting in River's closet without making a sound), a bed was a welcome luxury. Her body relaxed and let go of the kinks she hadn't known she was holding on to and as she felt sleep drift over her, she remembered the eyes that had followed her around the room the entire time she'd been in the kitchen. Jayne, the large man that they belonged to hadn't said a word to her the whole night, he just ate copious amounts of the food she'd cooked and muttered a few agreements here and there. Yet whenever she looked up, those blue eyes were there and whenever she shifted, he seemed to shift to. The merc made her nervous and she couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing.


End file.
